Archive for 'Values & Virtues'

America is passionate about neutrality. This explains the rapid rise of the following fashionable leanings in our current culture:

Aesthetic neutrality: Beauty is only in the beholder’s eye and no one can label things beautiful or ugly. Everything is “equally valid,” including crotch-grabbing, drug-glorifying, misogynistic rap songs about killing cops, hating The Man, or exploiting women.

Moral neutrality: “Sin” is an impolite word to use in polite company. Judgmentalism is one of the few traits we ...

If nothing is sacred, then everything is disposable. In today’s highly disposable world, reverence is getting rare. With secularism on the rise, we need a better grip on what is sacred. This takes faith. Webster defines sacred as that which is devoted or dedicated to a deity or a spiritual purpose, or entitled to veneration or religious respect. Christians hold that anything God selects for us or sets apart for special use is sacred. Here’s ...

“If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
The Apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 3:10, NIV).

The key word in the much neglected verse above is “man,” which in context means “grown-up.” Of course, babies and children must be fed long before they can work. As they grow, they learn to take responsibility for their lives. Others need time and support, for legitimate reasons, to train or recover from setbacks or disabilities. They need ...

The silver screen comedian W. C. Fields (1880 – 1946) was once asked if he liked children. He quipped: “Ah yes, boiled or fried?” There was a time in America when that was funny. No more. Reality is trading places with absurdity. Too many children are being boiled and fried alive, so to speak, in today’s popular culture.

Would you like America’s babies served up in the second trimester or third? Would you like ...

“Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” ~ The Apostle Paul (Romans 1:32, NIV).

Fuller Theological Seminary, where I earned my Master of Divinity degree in 1979, has officially sanctioned a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) student group on campus. They are the first evangelical seminary to sanction and support ...

Avoiding evil is not easy. Sorry to break this to you but being awesome at avoiding evil is not enough. We must expose and oppose it. Christians are not called to run from darkness but toward it—fearlessly, as children of light. Listen to the apostle Paul: “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11)

Motherhood and apple pie have long represented the quintessential components of Americana that no one would dare diminish or disparage. That was yesterday. Today, we still love apple pie.

Tolerating Motherhood / Fatherhood

America is currently in the process of diminishing both motherhood and fatherhood and gradually replacing them with whateverhood. Advocating for same-sex marriage undermines the value we assign to motherhood and fatherhood as uniquely beneficial to children. Two or ...

Some say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, as if people and things are beautiful only if we think they are. I don’t think so. A fresh flower is itself beautiful. Who sees a colorful sunset or a waterfall in the woods reflecting rays of sunshine and claims that its beauty depends on beholders? My Grandmother, Margaret Icylon Solliday (1909 – 2003), was just beautiful. If you could ...